Guest Post. Prof Wade on the Microbiome and MS.

The human body is heavily colonised by microorganisms including Bacteria, Archaea (single cell microbes), viruses, fungi and protozoa (single cell organisms) and are known collectively as the human microbiome. In recent years, there has been substantial interest in the role of the human microbiome in health and disease

We have recently seen two papers published on the role of the Microbiota in multiple sclerosis.

We asked Prof. William Wade if he would be willing to make some comments for you.

William Wade graduated in Biological Sciences in 1978 from the University of East Anglia. He pursued a PhD in Oral Microbiology at Cardiff Dental School and was appointed to a Lectureship there in 1987. He then moved in 1993 to the University of Bristol to take up a Senior Lectureship in Oral Microbiology, and in 1996 he was appointed Professor of Oral Microbiology at Kings College London. Since 2002 he has been an Honorary Senior Research Investigator at the Forsyth Institute, Boston, USA. In 2013 he was appointed Professor of Oral Microbiology at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London.

William Wade has been one of the pioneers in the development and characterisation of the, in particular the oral, microbiome. He is a curator of the Human Oral Microbiome Database (www.homd.org) which has been developed with collaborators at the Forsyth Institute in Cambridge, USA.

His current research interests are the characterisation of the composition of the human microbiome, determination of the functional roles of members of the microbiome in health and disease and the development of novel methods for the culture of the majority of the microbiome which has yet to be cultured. The development of novel prevention measures and treatments, such as probiotics, for microbiome-associated diseases is a major focus.

The body is heavily
colonised by microorganisms, known collectively as the human microbiome. The
microbiome has a number of health benefits: it helps us digest food, helps
prevent other microbes from causing infection and is essential for the proper
development of the immune system. Sometimes, however, the composition of the
microbiome can change to one that is associated with disease, a condition know
as dysbiosis. Whether a dysbiotic microbiome can cause disease or whether the
composition of the microbiome changes because of the disease is the major
question which microbiome researchers are trying to answer.

Two recent papers (1)(2) have compared the gut microbiome in individuals
with multiple sclerosis with healthy controls. Both found the microbiome in MS
to be different from that of controls although, interestingly, the changes in
bacterial composition observed were different in the two studies. The authors
suggest that MS may be associated with gut dysbiosis and that improved
understanding of this relationship might lead to the development of new
treatments.

These studies need
to be interpreted with caution, however. Both studies investigated stool
samples. It has been shown that the primary factor affecting the microbial
composition of faecal samples is stool consistency (3). Since MS is known to cause gastrointestinal
disturbance, it is possible that this could be the reason for the differences
seen. Alternatively, there could be a number of other confounding factors such
as diet or inflammation of the gut which may have affected the microbiome of the
MS patients studied.

These studies
included relatively small numbers of subjects. Further work on larger numbers
of patients and carefully selected control subjects is needed to confirm if the
gut microbiome is different in MS and whether this occurs as a result of the
disease or contributes to its cause.

I like this theme Intestinal microbiota. At 16 I had appendicitis, had to remove the appendix. I'm curious to know if it would have any influence on my intestinal flora and the own absorption of Vitamin D.